Missing
by SVUfan18
Summary: No one has seen Detective Benson. It is very unlike her to be late for work, especially without calling. What will her partner find when he arrives at her house to check on her?
1. Chapter 1

"Liv? .. LIV! Munch, Fin, have either of you seen Olivia?"

"It's not our day to watch her Stabler," Fin replied.

"I believe the fact that she is _your_ partner, means that responsibility falls on you my friend," Munch added.

"She was supposed to be here an hour ago and she's not picking up her phone. I'm going to go check on her and make sure she is ok. Let Cragen know, please?" Elliot called out as he was heading out the door.

Elliot arrived at Olivia's apartment to find her door partially open. He immediately sensed something was horribly wrong. He entered cautiously, with his gun drawn. Her apartment was trashed, obvious signs of a struggle, dining room chairs on their side, couch cushions on the floor, pictures knocked over. Elliot headed back to the bedroom, clearing the house on his way back. He didn't want any unwelcome visitors getting the drop on him.

When he got to the bedroom he saw Olivia lying on the floor, with one leg up on the bed. She was wearing ripped panties. Her T-shirt was next to her on the floor. Elliot's heart skipped a beat as he tried to catch his breath. He quickly cleared the room and called into his police radio for a bus. He kneeled on the floor next to his partner. His hands were shaking as he placed two fingers on her neck, he was relieved to find a pulse. She was not responding to her name or his touch. There was a large bruise on the right side her stomach, with a fairly large cut running through the center of it.

Elliot covered his partner with a blanket from her bed. He stroked her hair gently, whispering her name. "Liv, Olivia. Hang on. Hang in there. The ambulance is on its way." Time seemed to be standing still. Just as Elliot was considering taking her to the hospital in his own car he heard the sirens.

Olivia's apartment quickly filled with police and EMTs. SVU was arriving as Elliot was getting into the ambulance with Olivia. He caught Cragen's eye for a brief moment but neither of them spoke. Once at the hospital it was a waiting game. Elliot sat in the waiting room while the doctors checked Olivia out.

"Detective Stabler?" the doctor called.

"Here!" Elliot hurried over to the doctor. "How is she?"

"She should be just fine Detective. There are no signs of rape but she does have a concussion and she's pretty banged up. We had to put 12 stitches in that cut on her stomach..."

As the doctor was talking to Elliot a nurse came out and informed them that she was waking up and asking for Elliot. Both the doctor and Elliot rushed into her room. Elliot gently took her hand as the doctor checked her out further.

"Everything looks ok. I'll give you guys some privacy," the doctor told them as he left the room.

"El," Olivia said, as tears started to run down her cheek.

"I'm here Liv, everything is going to be ok," he said as he gently squeezed her hand and brushed her hair out of her eyes.

"El, what happened?" Olivia managed to ask through tears.

"You don't remember?"

Olivia shook her head.

"Don't worry, we're going to find out," Elliot said, gently stoking Olivia's hair, "we're going to find out," his voice trailed off.


	2. Chapter 2

Cragen showed up in Olivia's hospital room shortly after she drifted off to sleep.

"Elliot. Has she said anything?"

"Not much Cap. Probably retrograde amnesia. The doctor said she wasn't raped, she has a concussion and he had to put 12 stitches in a nasty gash on her stomach. She said she didn't remember what happened."

"Glad to hear she wasn't raped—small mercies. Fin and Munch took the evidence back to the lab. We got some prints, blood and a possible vehicle description from one of her neighbors."

Olivia, hearing two deep voices, started to stir.

"El," she called out weakly.

"I'm here Liv," Elliot replied, taking her hand in his, "So is Cragen."

"Liv, how are you feeling," Cragen asked.

"Sore, tired, confused. Was I..."

"No, no Liv, you weren't raped," Elliot finished her thought.

"El... I want to get out of here."

"I'll talk to the doctor, but I don't think he's going to let you go home just yet," Elliot squeezed his partners hand.

"I won't go home El, I can work. I'm ok, really."

Elliot and Cragen exchanged glances, silently agreeing not to argue with Benson. There was no way either of them were going to let her work after everything that had happened, but she was headstrong and neither of them wanted to upset her by getting into an argument.

"You guys call me if you need me, I need to get back to the precinct and check on everyone."

"Ok Captain," Elliot said, "Let us know if you hear anything."

Olivia said good-bye as Cragen squeezed her foot twice and wished her well.

The nurse came in to check on Olivia and change her bandage giving Elliot an opportunity to find the doctor to see when she would be released.

"What did the doctor say El? Can we go now? Please?"

Elliot leaned over and kissed Olivia's forehead, "Tomorrow morning, Liv, we can leave tomorrow morning," he said as he took her hand in his again.

Olivia was trying to keep her emotions in check, and felt really foolish crying over something so insignificant, but the stress of everything that happened combined with the fact that she really, _really_, did not want to spend the night in the hospital overwhelmed her and the tears began flowing freely. Elliot sat next to her on the bed, wrapped his arms around her and held her close to him. He kissed the top of her head and reassured her, promising to stay with her so she didn't have to be alone. He gently rocked her back and forth and it wasn't too long before Olivia was sound asleep again. Elliot laid next to her on the bed, holding her as she slept and before long he drifted off to sleep as well.


	3. Chapter 3

The next morning, the doctor showed Olivia how to change the dressing over her stitches, and gave her discharge instructions before she left with Elliot. Elliot wanted to take Olivia home but she insisted on going to work. Elliot agreed knowing he would be there to keep an eye on her.

Overall it was a relatively slow day at the office. Cragen put Olivia and Elliot on desk duty. Fin and Munch continued following the evidence in Olivia's case. Elliot offered to take Olivia home, and even stay with her if she wanted. He wanted to make sure she felt safe. She turned him down. She insisted he go ahead and head home, telling him she had some more paperwork she wanted to finish up. She promised to have a patrol car take her home. Elliot reluctantly agreed and headed out.

Olivia had no intention of going home. It wasn't safe. Not when she didn't know who had attacked her. She didn't want anyone fussing over her though, so she decided to stay at the precinct. She felt safe there. After everyone left she headed into the crib to try to get some sleep.

The week dragged on slowly. Olivia continued spending nights in the crib. Elliot was getting restless sitting at his desk and was ready to get back out in the field but he knew if he did that Olivia would be right behind him and he didn't think she was ready yet. Fin and Munch weren't having much luck tracking down the perp who had attacked Olivia. None of the fingerprints they found led anywhere, and without a license plate they were having a lot of trouble finding the vehicle Olivia's neighbor had seen, but there were still a few more leads to run down and they weren't going to give up till they got justice for Olivia. Elliot helped with the case from the office.

Late Thursday night Elliot headed back to the squad room to pick up his cell phone which he had forgotten. He was a little surprised to find Olivia's desk light on. Thinking she probably just forgot to turn it off he went over to turn it off for her but he saw her jacket still on her chair and her purse under her desk. "Liv?" he called out. He went and knocked on the women's restroom door and called her name again, then he went to check the crib. He saw Olivia sleeping on one of the bottom bunks. He went over and sat down next to her and put his hand on her back. She sat straight up, breathing in a panic, and reaching for her gun.

"Liv, Liv, it's just me."

"Elliot.. wh-what are you doing here?" Olivia asked as she rubbed her eyes.

"I left my cell phone here... Liv, why are you sleeping here? What's going on?" Elliot asked, brushing Olivia's hair out of her face.

"I uh, I... it was late when I got done with my work, so I decided just to sleep here tonight. I'm fine El," Olivia tried to play it down.

"Liv? How long has this been going on? Have you been back to your apartment since"

"Yah!" Olivia cut him off, "Of course, I'm fine Elliot. Really."

Elliot didn't really believe she was fine, but it was late, and he didn't want to get into it with her. He insisted on sleeping there too.


	4. Chapter 4

Friday was just as dull as the rest of the week had been. The stack of paperwork on Elliot's desk had not been that small in a while. Elliot decided to take off a little early and suspicious that Olivia hadn't left the precinct all week, insisted she come along too. Olivia agreed only to try to convince Elliot that she was ok, but deep down she was afraid. Truth was she hadn't been out of the building since she arrived with Elliot several days earlier and as soon as she stepped outside with Elliot she felt venerable. She was suspicious of everyone around her.

She relaxed a little once they arrived at Elliot's. Kathy had the kids this weekend so it would be quiet and peaceful. Olivia loved the 5 Stabler children dearly but she didn't want them to see her like this. Elliot and Olivia decided to put a movie in. Elliot couldn't take his eyes off his partner. He couldn't decide whether to say something to her or not. He wanted an honest answer about how she was doing but he also didn't want to upset her. He was hoping she would open up to him.

"El," Olivia's voice startled him, "your eyes are burning a hole in the side of my head. Did you need something?"

"How are you?"

"I'm fine, El. I promise," she paused, she could feel him looking at her, "Please.. I don't want to talk about it."

"Ok, what would you like for dinner?"

"Can we order Chinese?" Olivia yawned.

"Yah, the usual?"

Mhmm, Olivia settled back into the couch.

The partners finished their Chinese takeout just as the movie was ending. Elliot got up to put another movie in while Olivia went to the bathroom. Olivia came out and sat down in the middle of the couch. Elliot got up off the floor and sat down next to Olivia on the couch. He made small talk while they watched the movie. Next thing he knew Olivia's head was on his shoulder. He looked over at her, sound asleep. She looked so peaceful. When the movie was over Elliot picked Olivia up and took her back to his bed. He gently laid her down and tucked her in. He was overwhelmed with love and care for his partner, his friend. He took his shirt off, put on his NYPD sweat pants and went out to sleep on the couch.

Elliot woke with a start when he heard Olivia scream. He raced back to his bedroom and turned the light on.

"Elliot!" Olivia was awake, sitting up in bed, breathing short quick breaths.

"Liv," Elliot reached out and laid his hand on her shoulder, "What happened?"

"He was.. I saw.." Olivia fumbled over her words but couldn't form a sentence, then the tears came, again.

"Ok, it's ok, slow your breathing down Liv, you're going to hyperventilate. Elliot crawled in bed behind Olivia. He pulled Olivia back into his chest as he put his hand firmly on her chest. "Feel my chest rise and fall, Liv. Try to breath with me."

Olivia managed to slow her breathing back to a normal rate. "Elliot," Olivia said, looking at her hand. Elliot looked at his hand too. Both their hands were covered in blood. Olivia's shirt was soaked through as well. Elliot got out of bed and laid Olivia down. He pulled her shirt up just far enough to uncover the blood soaked bandage.

"Hold on Liv," Elliot called as he went to the bathroom to get a warm washcloth. When Elliot returned he removed Olivia's bandage and cleaned her wound with the warm washcloth. He saw that she had busted a couple stitches. He taped her wound up and redressed it and helped her into a clean shirt.

"Elliot, I don't want to go back to sleep."

"It's 1:30 Liv, you really should try to go back to sleep. Was it nightmares that woke you up?"

"I-I don't.. I don't know."

"I thought so," Elliot climbed in bed next to Olivia, "We'll just lay here and rest for a little while. Ok?"

"Ok," Olivia said as she laid her head on Elliot's shoulder.

The two laid in bed quietly for a while. Elliot hoped Olivia would fall back asleep eventually. Olivia contemplated opening up to her partner.

"I'm scared El."

Elliot put his arm around Olivia and held her tight. "Of what?" He spoke very softly.

"I don't know who attacked me. I mean, it could have been anyone. I don't know who to look out for. What if he's watching? Waiting? I know, it's stupid..." Olivia hung her head.

"It's not stupid Liv. It's _not_ stupid." Elliot kissed her on the forehead and pulled her even tighter.

"I don't want to go back to sleep El. I'm scared and I'm tired of the nightmares. I'm so tired." Hot tears streamed down her face.

Elliot wiped the tears from her face with his thumb. He laid down and cuddled up right next to Olivia. "It's ok Liv, I got you, I'll keep you safe," Elliot whispered in her ear.

It didn't take long before Olivia was fast asleep again. She felt safe with Elliot, with his strong, muscular arms wrapped around her. So she gave in, and let sleep take over her body.


	5. Chapter 5

On Saturday afternoon, Elliot took Olivia to the animal shelter. She had decided to get a dog for some added security. Olivia picked out a 2 year old, yellow Labrador mix named Jake. After filling out all the adoption paperwork Elliot took Olivia back to her apartment. As they turned down her street Olivia's entire body started shaking. Elliot reached over and squeezed Olivia's arm with his hand.

"It's ok," he told her gently. "Everything is going to be ok... I promise."

Elliot parked the car, helped Olivia out, and got the dog out. Olivia was still shaking. She grabbed onto Elliot's arm for support. She tried to pay attention to his whispers of comfort but the terror of what had happened to her the last time she was there distracted her. Olivia's trembling hands prevented her from getting the key into the lock. Elliot took the key from her, unlocked and opened her front door. Olivia stood there, paralyzed with fear. Elliot sent the dog into Olivia's apartment. He put his arm around Olivia and pulled her tight to him.

"I got you Liv. It's ok. You can do this," he told her.

"El," she said, her voice shaky. "You were right." A single tear escaped, rolling down her cheek. "I haven't been back since..." she stopped. "El, I can't go in there," she pleaded with him as she tried to back away.

"Do you want me to check the apartment?" Elliot asked, trying to figure out a way to calm her.

"No!" Olivia screamed, "Don't leave me out here alone!" She reached out a grabbed Elliot's shirt with her shaking hand as tight as she could.

"Ok, ok," Elliot took her hand from his shirt. She squeezed his hand so tight he quickly lost feeling in it.

Elliot nudged Olivia far enough into her apartment he could shut the door behind them. He calmed her down enough to get her sit on the couch with him. She sat with her body plastered against his. Jake came over and nudged Olivia's hand. She pet the dog and let him lick her hand. It took her a little while but her body eventually stopped shaking.

The two ordered pizza for dinner and watched TV for the majority of the evening.

"I'll be ok if you want to go home El," Olivia said softly. She hoped he would stay with her but she felt guilty for needing him so much.

"I'm not going anywhere, Liv. Not till we catch this creep."

"What if we never catch him?" Olivia asked with fear in her voice.

Elliot put his hand on Olivia's shoulder and stared into her eyes. "We'll get him Liv," he replied confidently.

Olivia laid her head on Elliot's shoulder and turned her attention back to the TV. Before long Elliot heard her breathing deepen and felt her body relax completely as she drifted off to sleep. He laid his head on top of her head and it didn't take long before he was asleep as well.

* * *

Monday afternoon brought promises of justice for Olivia. Elliot and Fin brought in the perp who attacked her after the lab matched one of the DNA samples. They determined the attack on Olivia was just a random attack, not someone targeting her specifically.

After her attacker was put away Olivia could finally relax. She was able to return to her apartment without being overcome with fear. Elliot continued to check on her to make sure she was doing alright. Olivia knew with the love and support of her friends she would be able to put everything that had happened behind her. She wasn't going to let herself be a victim any longer.


End file.
